County Commissioner Candidate Gives eXcelisys High Vote of Confidence for Building Star-spangled Campaign Website

From Inception to Launch in 28 Days, Site Boosts Office-Seeker’s Web Presence

For St. Joseph County, Indiana, native Tom McCormick, the decision to seek political office was a long time coming. But once McCormick decided to run for county commissioner, he knew he needed to launch a campaign website lickety-split.

“One of the first things we started in this whole process was trying to find a company that was willing to do something like this,” said McCormick. Turns out that securing his preferred domain name – McCormick4Commissioner.com – was a heck of a lot easier than finding a web developer willing to build his site.

In August 2023, McCormick contacted a handful of web development companies about building his campaign website but came up empty: one developer indicated they did not deal with political candidate websites, preferring to work with businesses; another did not respond to inquiries; a third offered an outrageous price; a fourth said they were swamped with another project. 

With no prospects, McCormick “threw the fishing net out on social media” asking for recommendations and soon heard from eXcelisys Solution Services Consultant Mark Clark. As McCormick tells it, he had known Clark “a lifetime ago” when Clark owned a Nextel Communications dealership and took care of McCormick’s wireless needs. Clark reached out to offer advice on hiring a web-design firm and pretty quickly, McCormick trusted that eXcelisys could meet his campaign website needs.

On August 31, McCormick met with eXcelisys to discuss his vision for the website; 28 days later, McCormick4Commissioner.com went LIVE! Check out the campaign website:

Political Candidate Website Design: How We Do It

McCormick is pleased with the site and satisfied with the way the custom website development process unfolded. eXcelisys WordPress Guru Shane Glover provided the web-building eXpertise for the site. Initially, McCormick showed Glover some eXample pages from campaign sites he liked – sites that embodied the look and feel McCormick envisioned for his own. Using the information, Glover presented some WordPress theme options.

“We looked into a couple of canned themes but ended up customizing Astra, which is an almost-blank slate theme,” said Glover. Astra is lightweight on the front end, offering speedy load times to put McCormick’s message in front of site visitors quickly. 

As Glover worked on the site, he did his homework, conducting research on political campaign website color schemes to typefaces to ensure he was up to date on the latest conventions. Glover was surprised to learn that Democrats lean toward sans-serif fonts while Republicans use serifs. (Serifs are the short, horizontal lines added to the tops and bottoms of letters). “I’m usually not a serif fan but I went with it for the majority of body text,” said Glover, in keeping with McCormick’s Republican affiliation.

Building a Campaign Website  

Developer-client collaboration took place in an asynchronous project management platform eXcelisys utilizes to ensure team members can communicate across time zones on different schedules. This tool proved perfect, as it allowed McCormick to upload content, answer design questions, and approve layouts whenever he had a free moment.

As the owner/operator of McCormick Electrical Services and a volunteer firefighter, McCormick’s days are full serving the people around him but render him unreachable at times. Basecamp, however, allowed the development conversation to flow around the clock. “I could shoot out an idea or thought at 10 a.m. and Shane [Glover] would work on it, then shoot back a message or answer and later that night, I could answer back.”

As for his day-to-day, McCormick prefers direct, real-time communication. “I’m old school. I like to be able to reach out and talk face-to-face.” McCormick’s preference for human interaction and understanding are central to his campaign message – Wanting what’s best for you.

“To me, that means I want to be able to sit down with you. I want to hear what’s on your mind. I want to know what’s important to you in this county,” McCormick said, whether that’s roadways, the 911 dispatch center, the health department. Overall, McCormick’s goal is to find out what’s on the hearts and minds of the citizens of St. Joseph County, “so I can help make things better for all of us.”

Though the website has been launched, like a campaign, the work is far from over. Glover continues to update the site as needed, such as when new endorsements come in. Because he doesn’t have to worry about website upkeep, McCormick is free to get out in the community and meet voters in preparation for the August primary.

If you’re seeking political office and seeking a developer to build your campaign website, contact eXcelisys today. Our solution consultants will be happy to discuss your campaign website design needs so you can get back on the campaign trail.